Retired counselor Carmen Adams receives carnations from Jose "Joe" Gallegos, a former gang member who credits Adams with changing his life.

Retired counselor Carmen Adams receives carnations from Jose "Joe" Gallegos, a former gang member who credits Adams with changing his life.

Photo: Billy Calzada / San Antonio Express-News

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Carmen Adams prays over the leg of Jose "Joe" Gallegos, a former gang member whom she helps rescue many years ago. Gallegos considers Adams his mother.

Carmen Adams prays over the leg of Jose "Joe" Gallegos, a former gang member whom she helps rescue many years ago. Gallegos considers Adams his mother.

Photo: San Antonio Express-News

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Carmen Adams helped many San Antonio young people at the Good Samaritan Center on Saltillo Street.

Carmen Adams helped many San Antonio young people at the Good Samaritan Center on Saltillo Street.

Photo: San Antonio Express-News

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Carmen Adams, who used to counsel young people at the Good Samaritan Center on Saltillo Street, prays the rosary several times a day from her bed. She is credited by many former gang members with influencing them to leave the gang life. less

Carmen Adams, who used to counsel young people at the Good Samaritan Center on Saltillo Street, prays the rosary several times a day from her bed. She is credited by many former gang members with influencing ... more

Photo: San Antonio Express-News

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Carmen Adams, 97, offered counseling advice to young people for years at the Good Samaritan Center on Saltillo Street.

Carmen Adams, 97, offered counseling advice to young people for years at the Good Samaritan Center on Saltillo Street.

Photo: San Antonio Express-News

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Carmen Adams, 97, gives a blessing to Jose "Joe" Gallegos, a former gang member who credits her for helping to save him. Gallegos considers Adams to be his mother.

Carmen Adams, 97, gives a blessing to Jose "Joe" Gallegos, a former gang member who credits her for helping to save him. Gallegos considers Adams to be his mother.

Photo: San Antonio Express-News

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Carmen Adams, who is a Catholic, displays one of several rosaries which she uses for prayer. Adams, 97, counseled many young people who where in gangs.

Carmen Adams, who is a Catholic, displays one of several rosaries which she uses for prayer. Adams, 97, counseled many young people who where in gangs.

The stucco homes and yards were neatly kept, much different from the shotgun houses on his street. The only scenery he'd seen similar to her Northwest neighborhood was on television. It was the first time he had been outside his West Side community where gangs ran the streets.

As Adams served him and his friends dinner, she talked about how they could succeed at whatever they wanted if they worked hard. She told them it didn't matter where they came from - they were as good as anyone else and could live good lives.

When she drove them home, Gallegos felt on top of the world. That afternoon still resonates with him half a century later.

“It's an experience I'll remember for the rest of my life, ” said Gallegos, now 61.

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And remember he does — for the last six years, he has talked with Adams nearly every day. And once a week, he visits his counselor at her home, bearing pink carnations, pan dulce and never-ending gratitude.

Adams, now 96, and the boy-turned-man she's mentored for decades recently reminisced on how they met in 1964 at the Good Samaritan Center on Saltillo Street. He was 10 and she has in her mid-40s, just starting a new career as a social worker. He thought she was glamorous, like a movie star, always well-coiffed and immaculately dressed.

She was the first female Hispanic counselor Gallegos and his friends had encountered in their rough neighborhood, nicknamed “Ghost Town.” They related to her, unlike other adults who never thought about how kids feared drive-by shootings, too. Adams knew many joined gangs just to survive. She offered them a glimpse of future possibilities.

“I wanted to help people help themselves, ” she said. “I loved it because I was helping them not fight and to love each other.”

Adams grew up in a family that believed in helping others. Her mother took the homeless into her King William home during the Depression, and her brother worked with heroin addicts. With support from her husband, son and daughter, Adams followed in her family's footsteps.

The results of Adams' work are evident today.

The Ghost Town Survivors, a group of ex-gang members who do community service in the neighborhoods where they grew up, credit Adams with helping kids escape gang life. Many of those she mentored joined the military and/or earned college degrees and have successful careers.

Jesse Sauceda, a lawyer in Fort Worth for 37 years, said he took the right path because of his parents and Adams.

“She was a rare gem in the neighborhood, ” Saucedo, 71, said. “She had a big impact on us staying in school, so we could be a success in life.”